Updated 11:09 pm, Sunday, October 6, 2013

Workers on the second shift at Sikorsky leave the plant in Stratford, Conn. on Friday October 4 2013. Notices have gone out that on Monday most of the employees will be put on furlough as part of the government shutdown.
Photo: Christian Abraham

Workers on the second shift at Sikorsky leave the plant in Stratford, Conn. on Friday October 4 2013. Notices have gone out that on Monday most of the employees will be put on furlough as part of the government shutdown.
Photo: Christian Abraham

A Sikorsky S-92 helicopter makes a pass over Sikorsky Aircraft plant in Stratford, Conn. in this file photo. Bond Aerospace took delivery of two S-92s that will be fully outfitted to carry workers to rigs in the North Sea. (PRNewsFoto)
Photo: Contributed Photo

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Back on the jobAs workers left the Stratford plant on Friday, Sikorsky officials passed out furlough notices and unemployment compensation forms. By Saturday evening, workers were told the furloughs had been terminated and they should return to work, staring Sunday evening.

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STRATFORD -- Sikorsky Aircraft employees returned to work Sunday night, avoiding furloughs that could have kept about 1,400 civilian workers at home without pay.

"We're relieved that the temporary layoffs and further disruption have been avoided," said Paul Jackson, a Sikorsky spokesman. "Our focus now turns to restoring full production levels."

The 11th-hour reprieve developed over the weekend as U.S. Defense Secretary Chuck Hagel invoked a recently passed law that authorizes the Defense Department to bring back most civilian employees despite the ongoing federal government shutdown.

The "Pay Our Military Act" was signed by President Barack Obama last week, clearing the way for some 350,000 civilian defense workers nationwide to return to their jobs.

Sikorsky announced late Saturday that employees should return to work Sunday night. An automated message at Sikorsky headquarters, updated at 9:30 p.m. Saturday, informed employees that Sunday's third shift was scheduled to go on as it had before the shutdown.

Sikorsky initially planned as many of 2,200 furloughs in Connecticut and Florida, but by late last week the number dropped to 1,400 in Connecticut only, according to numerous reports. Sikorsky manufacturers Black Hawk helicopters at its Stratford plant.

By the end of the day Friday, Sikorsky passed out furlough notices and unemployment compensation forms. The main problem was that federal inspectors who monitor helicopter production had been furloughed because of the shutdown. Without those inspectors, civilian workers could not run the production line at Sikorsky.

"We had 45 (federal inspectors) in Connecticut, and because of the shutdown we have two. We had 12 in West Palm Beach, Fla. Now we're down to zero. In Troy, Ala., we had six. Now we're down to one intern," Rocco Calo, principal officer for Teamsters Local 1150, said last week.

Across Connecticut, defense workers on Sunday were relieved furloughs would end for now. At the Groton submarine base, 750 furloughed civilian workers were also expected to return to their jobs.

The future, however, remained a question mark because the military pay act cannot be used to fund future purchases and a budget resolution has not been reached in Congress.